Never Forget 9/11/01

...recollection of 9/11 as experienced by a colleague of mine who was in the Pentagon that fateful day.  I was in my office building a mile away from the Pentagon and that day's surreal events are still seared in my mind. My direct experience was simply being in the very near vicinity and evacuating Arlington, but it was nothing like those who experienced the attacks first hand.

See also the outstanding site Project 2,996 which is a collection of remembrances of the victims of the attacks.

My story isn't nearly as exciting as some.  I was a senior at U-M and, it being Tuesday, I had no classes until 1:00, so I slept in, and I missed a call from my mom that morning. "Isn't this awful?" she said in the message.  "I heard they cancelled class."  I didn't know what she was talking about.  I thought maybe something had happened to President Bollinger.  Then I turned on the TV.  Whoa.

Lots of very vivid memories.  I agree totally on there being a better time and place to discuss the ins and outs that lead to the tragedy. 

On the other hand I understand if people can't hold back.  It is a very emotional issue and a lot of the connections continued on beyond that day and effected people's lives in the way of lost loved ones in the military.  

I honor the innocent victims in New York and the innocent dead of countries that have been subjected to war because of that day, and I honor the dead in the US military.  We all should; today and every day. Premature death of any person by violent means is so very wrong.

Great thread of remembrance.

 

 

We were waiting for class to get out when the teacher told us a place crashed into a building in New York. To be honest, I didn't know what the Towers were and I didn't think much of it. The second plane hit by the time I made it to my next class but our teacher didn't have a tv in the room and we didn't hear about it until after class. The halls were filled with whispers but at the same time, it was the quietest I have ever heard them. I remember going home and watching the news all night. I remember crying every night and feeling completely powerless. I will never forget how I felt.

I worked for a investment bank that was closer to midtown than downtown, and i can still remember the sights and sounds and smells of that day.  I worked on a trading floor, so there were tvs at various spots on the floor that were tuned to CNBC all day.  I remember when they first reported the first tower had been hit in some sort of "accident," and looking out the window and seeing the thick plume of smoke rising up from it.  I also remember turning up the sound and hearing one of the anchors say, after seeing the video, "that was no accident."

In the immediate aftermath after the towers fell, it was surreal to step out onto the street that was devoid of almost all cars, seeing military personnel at various corners of the street.  My cell phone had spotty reception and frequently got a busy signal because one of the main cell phone antenna(s) in the city was on top of one of the towers of the WTC.  I remember making the slow walk toward the Upper West Side where I lived, looking back toward downtown and seeing only two billowing columns of smoke where the towers used to be.  I remember passing through Times Square and seeing crowds of people staring at the big billboard-sized monitors that were showing the news and seeing the look of horror and disbelieve on their faces...I am sure I had the same look.  It was eerie because there really wasn't any car traffic at that point and the screens didn't have sound, so there were all these people standing there focused on the screen and it was *quiet*.

I will never forget the events of that day for as long as I live.  I think it's definitely given me something I may have lacked in my younger days - perspective.  I am a huge Michigan  football fan and it pains me to see Michigan lose, but at the end of the day, it's still only a college football game...and on days like today, I am happy to still be here watching it.

I was in 11th grade and was in my English class when both towers fell. We had a quiz to take that day and lets just say I did terrible! The teacher was nice enough to let everyone re-take the quiz the following week (i think more then half the class did as bad as me).

The rest of my classes that day were pretty much nothing but watching the news coverage. My spanish teacher had us watch C-Span and hear it all in spanish. Much like many others... the hallways that day were very quiet. When I got home my Mom had no idea what had happened. She was totally shocked when I turned on the TV. My dad who is from NYC was at a loss for words for most of the day. His brother (my uncle) works for the USPS and did deliver mail to the WTC occasionally. We did not hear from him until the next day. Thank goodness he was not there when it happened.